Ore-car



(No Model.)

G. E. TRUAX.

. ORE GAB. No. 545,433. Patented Aug. 27,1895.

INVENTOH G. 5 TE UHX.

ATTORNEY UNITED STATES PATENT OFFIoE.

GEORGE E. TRUAX, OF DENVER, COLORADO.

ORE-CAR.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 545,433, dated August 27, 1895. Application filed September 17,1894. Serial No. 523,221. (Noinodeh) To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, GEORGE E. TRUAX, a citizen of the United States of America, residing at Denver, in the county of Arapahoe and State of Colorado, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inOre-Gars; and I do declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention,

' such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to the figures of reference marked thereon, which form a part of this specification.

My invention relates to improvements in ore-cars; and it consists of the'features hereinafter described and claimed, all of which will be fully understood by reference to the accompanying drawings, in which is illustrated an embodiment thereof.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a side elevation of an ore-car provided with myimprovements. Fig. 2 is a fragmentary top view of the front part of the car. Fig. 3 is a front elevation of the car.

Similar reference-characters indicate corresponding parts in the views.

Let the numeral 5 designatethe body of an ore-car provided with automatic mechanism for locking and unlocking the door 6. This automatic mechanism is set forth in Letters Patent No. 466,717, issued to me and bearing date January 5, 1892, and consists of a lever 7 and an arm 8, located on each side of the car, The lever is fulcrumed on the body of the car, and one extremity is hook-shaped and engages a projection 9 on the door when the latter is closed. The opposite extremity of this lever is pivoted to the forward end of the arm 8, whose rear extremity is pivoted to a standard 10, which remains stationary with reference to the body of the car during the operation of dumping.

The car is provided with a spring-actuated bell-crank locking-lever 12, fulcrumed on the rear extremity of the frame and adapted to engage a depending projection 13 on the car when the latter is in the horizontal position.

My present invention relates specially to the manner of swinging the door 6 at the top of the car. Heretofore on this class of cars the door has been hinged to projections extending above the top of the car-body by passing a rod across the front part of the car through coinciding apertures formed in the projections and the ears or logs on the door. This rod upon which the door is hinged is very much exposed, and therefore liable to injury by rocks falling thereon. Hence the rod often becomes bent to such an extent that the door of the car cannot operate until the car is repaired. This manner of hinging was supposed necessary in order to give the car the required strength, since the hingerod also performs the function of a tie-rod by connecting the sides of the car at the points where the door is hinged thereto. As before stated, this rod from its exposed position becomes a continual source of annoyance. Moreover, the projections above the top of the car, made necessary by the use of the rod in order to raise the latter above the space between the car sides and prevent its interfering with the capacity of the car, are very liable to become bent from contact with falling rocks or other objects. the least bend from its normal position on the part of one of these projections will pre- Vent the proper action of the door, for the same reason that the bending of the rod has the same result. Hence the object of this invention is to overcome these difficulties, and to this end I form a heavy metal strap 15 of sufficientlength to extend across the top of the door, its extremities being bent at right angles, as shown at 15, and of sufficient length to receive short hinge pins or pivots 16, which pass through coinciding apertures formed in the projections 15 and the sides of the car. This strap is applied to the top of the car-door, and its projections extend rearwardly, embracing the sides of the car It is evident that.

on their outer surfaces, the upper edge of the strap being in the same plane with the top or upper edge of the car-body. It will thus be seen that the strap 15 gives the car substantially the same strength as the tierod heretofore mentioned, and at the same time is not open to any of the objections of said rod.

v Having thus described my invention, what I claim is v y In an ore ear, the combination with the carbody and the door, of a metal strap applied transversely to the top of the door and having rearwardly extending projections embracing the outer surface of the car-sides, and

suitable hinge pins engaging said projections, to substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in the presence of two witnesses.

GEORGE E. TRUAX.

lVitnesses:

G. J. ROLLANDET, CHAS. E. DAWSON. 

